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Long story short, I bought a very fancy new doe from one of the top breeders in my state and she came with the gift of lice. Joy! I now have 7 does and 4 kids affected. Thankfully my boys on the other side of the garden are totally fine.
I'm deathly allergic to chemicals and pesticides (anaphylactic allergic, and also allergic to epinephrine so a literal potential death sentence for me). For the past week I have been treating everyone in the birth house with tea tree oil in a liquid coconut oil base along their top line and sides, rubbed in, let it sit, nit comb a few hours later plus wondercide spray all over which is an amazing natural cedar based insecticide spray. I've been treating them once or twice a day each and the kids usually only have between maybe two and nine louse on them at any given time so I'm really trying to treat the moms but once I get halfway through to get bitchy and run off. I get it -- it takes forever. I'm also swapping out bedding every few days and spraying it down with wondercide and sprinkling it with tea tree oil mixed in baking soda until I can get some food grade DE. We live pretty much in the middle of nowhere and the only place within 40 mile radius that carries it wants $50 for 10 lbs and thanks to covid I can't afford that. I just remembered that I do actually have First Saturday Lime in the chicken coop which is goat safe and I haven't tried that so I will (masked because that causes me breathing problems too, along with DE). I also have some powdered sulfur which I've never tried before but heard works wonders. With all of this though, I feel like I'm missing something because a lot of people say just do this for a couple of days and they're good to go but that's not the case with me.
With two kiddings in the past week and a half and everything else going on, I haven't even gotten to start treating the other five does or their two houses. They are all pregnant and if I find that it's safe, I'm half tempted to pay someone to use Cylence on them because this has been kind of a nightmare but then I literally can't touch them or pet them probably for a week and I worry about them going into labor in that time. Two of my girls are due next week, and one the following week. I'm also afraid that poisons like that will get in their system and effect their milk in addition to affecting me. Does anyone know if that's true? I really don't want to have to use anything if I have to dump their milk on top of everything else.
I also found a natural spray by UltraCruz that's labeled for flies and ticks but someone commented that it worked on lice. Has anyone ever tried that? If you've ever had lice and don't opt to use chemicals you definitely can relate to how exhausting this is.
I had lice one other time when I had four bottle babies and a brand-new bale of straw. At that time I didn't know straw could carry lice or their eggs. I used the wondercide spray everyday for a week and it was gone. I don't understand why it's taking so much time this round. Maybe because the mamas have such thick fur and I'm not seeing/getting everything? Any tips would be soooo appreciated!
Pro tip: it doesn't matter how fancy the breeder is that you're buying from or how much your goat costs, check them for lice before you bring them home. That's the first time I've ever bought a goat from anyone other than my original breeder and I'm kicking myself.
As always, I love you, goat people! ♡
I'm deathly allergic to chemicals and pesticides (anaphylactic allergic, and also allergic to epinephrine so a literal potential death sentence for me). For the past week I have been treating everyone in the birth house with tea tree oil in a liquid coconut oil base along their top line and sides, rubbed in, let it sit, nit comb a few hours later plus wondercide spray all over which is an amazing natural cedar based insecticide spray. I've been treating them once or twice a day each and the kids usually only have between maybe two and nine louse on them at any given time so I'm really trying to treat the moms but once I get halfway through to get bitchy and run off. I get it -- it takes forever. I'm also swapping out bedding every few days and spraying it down with wondercide and sprinkling it with tea tree oil mixed in baking soda until I can get some food grade DE. We live pretty much in the middle of nowhere and the only place within 40 mile radius that carries it wants $50 for 10 lbs and thanks to covid I can't afford that. I just remembered that I do actually have First Saturday Lime in the chicken coop which is goat safe and I haven't tried that so I will (masked because that causes me breathing problems too, along with DE). I also have some powdered sulfur which I've never tried before but heard works wonders. With all of this though, I feel like I'm missing something because a lot of people say just do this for a couple of days and they're good to go but that's not the case with me.
With two kiddings in the past week and a half and everything else going on, I haven't even gotten to start treating the other five does or their two houses. They are all pregnant and if I find that it's safe, I'm half tempted to pay someone to use Cylence on them because this has been kind of a nightmare but then I literally can't touch them or pet them probably for a week and I worry about them going into labor in that time. Two of my girls are due next week, and one the following week. I'm also afraid that poisons like that will get in their system and effect their milk in addition to affecting me. Does anyone know if that's true? I really don't want to have to use anything if I have to dump their milk on top of everything else.
I also found a natural spray by UltraCruz that's labeled for flies and ticks but someone commented that it worked on lice. Has anyone ever tried that? If you've ever had lice and don't opt to use chemicals you definitely can relate to how exhausting this is.
I had lice one other time when I had four bottle babies and a brand-new bale of straw. At that time I didn't know straw could carry lice or their eggs. I used the wondercide spray everyday for a week and it was gone. I don't understand why it's taking so much time this round. Maybe because the mamas have such thick fur and I'm not seeing/getting everything? Any tips would be soooo appreciated!
Pro tip: it doesn't matter how fancy the breeder is that you're buying from or how much your goat costs, check them for lice before you bring them home. That's the first time I've ever bought a goat from anyone other than my original breeder and I'm kicking myself.
As always, I love you, goat people! ♡